Effective Ways to Reduce Exchange Mailbox Size & Improve Performance!

Are you an Exchange Server user and received an Exchange Server mailbox full error? This issue typically occurs when a mailbox exceeds its allocated storage limit, preventing further emails from being sent or received. This situation can disrupt normal operations and lead to delays in communication. But don’t worry, we have several solutions to reduce Exchange mailbox size, just read the article below.

Reducing the size of an Exchange mailbox is a crucial task for everything running smoothly. Over time, mailboxes can grow large because of old emails, attachments, and other data which slow down performance and affect the overall health of the Exchange system. In this article, we’ll look at simple, effective ways to reduce mailbox sizes in Exchange, including cleaning up the server, setting retention policies, using archiving, and other best practices to keep mailboxes at a manageable size without losing any important data.

Common Reasons for the “Mailbox Full” Error in Exchange Server!

Many times, users are facing the issue that the Exchange mailbox is full, but do you know why this error occurs and why we need to reduce Exchange mailbox size? If not, then read these points to clear the concept – 

• Large email attachments can quickly fill up mailbox storage.
• Accumulating old, unnecessary emails takes up significant mailbox space.
• Sent emails and drafts not cleaned can fill the mailbox quickly.
• Lack of archiving or retention policies leads to mailbox bloat.
• Old calendar events and invites consume excessive mailbox storage.
• Unemptied deleted items folders can cause mailbox size to increase.
• Mailbox corruption or sync issues cause inaccurate size reporting.
• Shared mailboxes or public folders contribute to mailbox size growth.
• Accumulating junk and spam emails quickly occupy mailbox storage space.

Now, Learn the Reliable Ways to Reduce Exchange Mailbox Size!

The following section describes all the possible & secure techniques to reduce Exchange database size. So, go through these sections and understand how to make a managing Exchange mailbox task a breeze!

Method 1). Enable & Configure Retention Policies

Enabling a retention policy will help clean our mailboxes, by automatically deleting or archiving items older than a specific period. So, this is not the direct way to reduce the mailbox size, but one can use this trick to manage the Exchange server effectively. For the same –

Step 1. Open the Exchange Admin Center (EAC).

Step 2. Go to compliance management > Retention policies.

Step 3. Create a new retention policy, by clicking the plus (+) sign.

Step 4. Add the desired retention tags.

Step 5. Apply the retention policy to mailboxes by selecting them in Recipients > Mailboxes.

Step 6. Click the pencil icon to edit the mailbox properties, and assign the new retention policy under Retention policy.

Method 2). 100% Secure & Expert-Recommended Solution to Reduce Exchange Mailbox Size!

Reducing the file size can be possible by backing the Exchange data in the local drive and deleting the On-Premise current data. To do this, opt for the Exchange Mailbox Export Software, which can export data in various file formats like PST, EML, MSG, PDF & MBOX, and further you can import these files to the preferred platform( if needed). 

Download Now Purchase Now

Users can backup entire Exchange data simultaneously including emails, contacts, calendars, and other data. It doesn’t matter how large files your data is, with its bulk export feature users can efficiently make a local copy of the entire data concurrently. 

Why You Should Use This Utility?

1. Maintains Data Integrity
2. Backup Mailbox Size with Security
3. 24X7 Free Technical Support
4. Lifetime Software Validity

Follow the Stepwise Instructions to Reduce Exchange Database Size!

Step 1: First, Launch the tool and select the platforms i.e. from Exchange to Outlook.

Step 2: Choose the desired data to export & apply the date filter (if needed).

Step 3: Now, enter the required credentials to reduce Exchange mailbox size as shown in the below screenshot.

Step 4: Browse the location to store the content.

Step 5: For accurate results consider the mapping option i.e. Fetch Users, Import Users & Download Template. 

Step 6: Finally, hit the Start Export button.

Note: If in case you have an offline/dismounted Exchange database then users can use the EDB to PST Converter Tool which allows users to export offline EDB files to Outlook PST in bulk. Also, it provides a Split PST option which allows you to break the Exchange database file while converting to the Outlook data file. Users can easily export mailbox to PST from offline EDB files of any size in a simplified manner.

Method 3). Move the Mailbox to a Different Database!

Sometimes, users want to move a mailbox to another mailbox database with a larger size quota or redistribute mailboxes to reduce Exchange mailbox size or the load on a single database. To do this –

Step 1: Open Exchange Management Shell (EMS).

Step 2: Run the following command to move the mailbox:

New-MoveRequest -Identity "UserMailbox" -TargetDatabase "TargetDatabaseName"

Step 3: Monitor the status of the move with:

Get-MoveRequest | Get-MoveRequestStatistics

Step 4: After the mailbox move is complete, you can clean up the move request by running:

Remove-MoveRequest -Identity "UserMailbox"

Method 4). Enable Archive Mailbox for Users

By enabling Online Archiving, moving old emails from primary mailboxes to an archive will make more space. For the same –

Step 1: Open the Exchange Admin Center (EAC).

Step 2: Go to Recipients > Mailboxes.

Step 3: Select the mailbox > Enable under the Archive section.

Step 4: Set up Retention Policies or Personal Archive Policies to automatically move older emails to the archive mailbox.

Method 5). Remove Unused or Old Mailboxes to Reduce Exchange Mailbox Size

If there are inactive or orphaned mailboxes, it is suggested to remove them to free up space on the server –

Step 1. Open the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or Exchange Management Shell (EMS).

Step 2. To remove a mailbox via the EAC, navigate to Recipients > Mailboxes, select the mailbox > Delete.

Step 3. If using EMS, use the following command:
Remove-Mailbox -Identity “UserMailbox”

Method 6). Reduce Exchange Mailbox Database Size Manually

Here, we have discussed a mailbox cleanup tool to reduce Exchange mailbox size. Just follow the steps below.

• Open the Mailbox Cleanup utility and navigate to File >> Tools >> Mailbox Cleanup.
• The user can select any desired option from the displayed options.
• Click View Mailbox Size to check the size of your mailbox and individual folders within it. This information can help in identifying the folders about to exceed the mailbox storage quota and need to be emptied.
• The user can also use the Filter option to sort items based on their needs.
• Choose the AutoArchive option to archive the items.
• Click the Empty button and delete all items from the Deleted Items folder.
• Select the View Conflicts Size option to check the Conflicts folder size. Click on the Delete button.

Bottom Line!

In this complete walkthrough, we have mentioned both manual and expert solutions to reduce Exchange mailbox size. However, the users can use the mailbox cleanup utility to resolve issues. But, if you need to resolve this query quickly and permanently, then it is highly recommended to consider the specified smart solution (Method 2) for instant & accurate results.